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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (52757)	6/29/2000 4:09:00 PM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

You SHOULD be proud of Ben!! Those are excellent scores- I think you are looking at Merit Scholar potential already- The disappointing thing about the Merit Scholar, at least for CW, is that it helps get you into the top tier schools, but there isn't much in the way of scholarships once you get in- HOWEVER- the not so top schools often offer a free ride to MSs to attract them. CW could have gone to a lot of places free (including UT). And at second tiers- like U of Richmond, he got excellent scholarship offers and that's a very good school. so I think depending on what Ben wants, he (thus YOU) should get a lot of help. Especailly in Va. schools. I wouldn't sweat the C. It's better that he get lots of math. They really look at Honors classes and whether a kid challenged himself. ANd I don't think they look too hard at 9th Oh-- that dream thing--- was that the comprehension part? Becuase AMmo said that was really hard, and he didn't do well on that either! His current SATs came in lower than his fall PSATs- which was troubling especially as he'd had another year of math! He'll have to redo everything this fall...He hates testing and has always panicked and had trouble with them, especially timed tests. (CW loves tests, esp. timed- I think that's such a big factor). There are so many smart kids who just don't do well in areas that COUNT for college. You just hope they find the right place for themselves. One of CW's friends is on his third college (and he's just going into his soph. year)! BUt he finally found what he loves-- flying. ANd he is entering a program that offers a degree plus all the certification for commercial airline work. I have a feeling he will just take off (hohoho) now. That's what we hope for Ammo..I hope it doesn't take three colleges in one year though. I thought his mom would have a breakdown.

To: Ilaine who wrote (52757)	6/29/2000 4:28:00 PM
From: Constant Reader	Respond to of 71178

Don't worry about a 7th Grade Algebra grade! No one really looks that far back: he took it in junior high school, after all. If anyone even looks that far back they will be impressed by his maturity and obvious ability.

To: Ilaine who wrote (52757)	6/29/2000 4:32:00 PM
From: nihil	Respond to of 71178

Times have really changed. Selective colleges graduate (almost) everyone. A five year graduation rate below 92% means you fire the director of admissions. Most flagship state universities are semi-selective. High SAT's (90th percentine) mean automatic admission, but many top engineering focused state schools (GaTech, Illinois, Berkeley, Purdue etc.) lose lots of bright students because perhaps a third of freshmen engineering students decide they want to have a life. Start studying the comparative tables -- pay especial attention to the semi-selective schools. Unless you can breeze through MIT and CalTech (the best) it isn't worth the agony IMO. Also, don't worry much about how selective the college you get in is. It is much more important to have a comfortable pace. Every top engineer and computer scientist I know enjoyed the opportunity to spend his time at college on problems he enjoyed. The key thing IMO opinion is to go to a place that does am enormous amount of externally supported research. These offer the opportunity for undergraduates to do real work. There is not much relation between what you study and what you use when you're an engineer. I have spent a lot of time asking graduate engineers exactly what mathematics they actually use in their work. The amount is minimal (unless they are teachers). Sames goes for physics and chemistry. Most engineers tell me they use about one percent of what they learned in college for the first ten years of work, and then nothing.